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|By Marketwired .||
|March 25, 2014 07:30 AM EDT||
SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/25/14 -- Global Analytics Holdings, Inc., the makers of the Zebit underwriting and payments platform for the underbanked, announced today that it has acquired workpays.me, an online marketplace that enables employees to pay for purchases over 12 months via direct or payroll deductions with 0% interest and no fees.
Founded by Josh Verne, Jon Dorfman and Paul Dumas, workpays.me is a benefit available through employers, offering an online catalog of over 20,000 brand name items such as computers / electronics, furniture, home goods, accessories and fitness at market prices. Its growing base of several million customers can choose from a variety of payment options, all done via direct or payroll deduction.
"This transaction strengthens our commitment to offering our customers the most affordable way to finance purchases," said Michael Thiemann, CEO of Global Analytics. "workpays.me's focus on financial wellness aligns perfectly with our culture."
"workpays.me's expertise in procurement, logistics and merchandising together with Global Analytics' experience in lending, payments and underwriting makes for a powerful combination," said Global Analytics advisor and co-founder of Capital One Financial Services Nigel Morris. "Providing a way for consumers with poor access to credit to buy products at standard market prices with 0% over 12 months is a true breakthrough. A win-win for both the employee and employer."
Because of the high risk of financing underbanked customers, typical interest rates available to them are high and product prices inflated.
"Not only are we able to offer customers prices comparable to what they would see online or at a big box retailer," said Josh Verne, CEO of workpays.me. "We are laser-focused on perfecting customer service, ensuring that we deliver best-in-class service. We know that if customers have a great experience with us, they're going to come back."
"When I founded this company, I was looking for ways to use analytics to have a positive impact on people's lives," added Global Analytics President and Chief Analytics Officer Krishna Gopinathan. "This is a perfect application for our Zebit platform -- using our Deep Learning analytic capabilities to ensure we can provide zero cost financing to as many customers as possible."
"workpays.me is an incredible benefit to offer to employees at no cost to the employer," said Scott McGurk, National Enterprise Manager at Paychex, Inc. "Benefits managers should take note of this program because increasingly, financial responsibility will become a key component of employee wellness and care. We love being able to help our employees make the most of their hard-earned money, and employees will appreciate that purchases are interest- and fee-free. As a bonus, most products are shipped free."
"We're excited about this partnership," said workpays.me advisor and former President of Visa Hans Morris. "I'm really proud of what the team has accomplished, and having the financial backing of an established company like Global Analytics is going to give workpays.me the fuel it needs to scale quickly."
Global Analytics has raised a total of $95 million, including a $30 million term credit facility in 2013 and $65 million in equity and debt financing since 2009.
About Global Analytics
Global Analytics is an international technology company applying advanced analytics to financing solutions for the underbanked. The founding team developed the fraud protection system protecting over 2 billion credit cards worldwide. The company has been honored as one of Red Herring's Top 100 Tech Startups and as a nominee in the Best Prepaid Awards in the UK for innovation. The company is based in San Diego and has over 400 employees worldwide, including key business operations in the United Kingdom and India. For further information, visit www.global-analytics.com.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, workpays.me is an e-commerce platform that promotes financial wellness and enables individuals to make necessary life purchases through hassle-free direct deductions. Individuals have the opportunity to purchase thousands of name-brand products & services with the flexibility to pay over time through direct or payroll deductions. For more information, visit www.workpays.me.
Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) is a leading provider of payroll, human resource, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses. The company offers comprehensive payroll services, including payroll processing, payroll tax administration, and employee pay services, including direct deposit, check signing, and Readychex®. Human resource services include 401(k) plan recordkeeping, section 125 plans, a professional employer organization, time and attendance solutions, and other administrative services for business. A variety of business insurance products, including group health and workers' compensation, are made available through Paychex Insurance Agency, Inc. Paychex was founded in 1971. With headquarters in Rochester, New York, the company has more than 100 offices serving approximately 570,000 payroll clients as of May 31, 2013. For more information about Paychex and our products, visit www.paychex.com.
SYS-CON Events announced today that G2G3 will exhibit at SYS-CON's @DevOpsSummit Silicon Valley, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Based on a collective appreciation for user experience, design, and technology, G2G3 is uniquely qualified and motivated to redefine how organizations and people engage in an increasingly digital world.
Oct. 6, 2015 04:45 PM EDT Reads: 314
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cloud Raxak has been named “Media & Session Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 17th Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Raxak Protect automates security compliance across private and public clouds. Using the SaaS tool or managed service, developers can deploy cloud apps quickly, cost-effectively, and without error.
Oct. 6, 2015 04:40 PM EDT
When it comes to IoT in the enterprise, namely the commercial building and hospitality markets, a benefit not getting the attention it deserves is energy efficiency, and IoT’s direct impact on a cleaner, greener environment when installed in smart buildings. Until now clean technology was offered piecemeal and led with point solutions that require significant systems integration to orchestrate and deploy. There didn't exist a 'top down' approach that can manage and monitor the way a Smart Buildi...
Oct. 6, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 241
Recently announced Azure Data Lake addresses the big data 3V challenges; volume, velocity and variety. It is one more storage feature in addition to blobs and SQL Azure database. Azure Data Lake (should have been Azure Data Ocean IMHO) is really omnipotent. Just look at the key capabilities of Azure Data Lake:
Oct. 6, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 214
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Tony Shan, Chief Architect at CTS, will explore the synergy of Big Data and IoT. First he will take a closer look at the Internet of Things and Big Data individually, in terms of what, which, why, where, when, who, how and how much. Then he will explore the relationship between IoT and Big Data. Specifically, he will drill down to how the 4Vs aspects intersect with IoT: Volume, Variety, Velocity and Value. In turn, Tony will analyze how the key components of IoT ...
Oct. 6, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 298
As-a-service models offer huge opportunities, but also complicate security. It may seem that the easiest way to migrate to a new architectural model is to let others, experts in their field, do the work. This has given rise to many as-a-service models throughout the industry and across the entire technology stack, from software to infrastructure. While this has unlocked huge opportunities to accelerate the deployment of new capabilities or increase economic efficiencies within an organization, i...
Oct. 6, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 105
“All our customers are looking at the cloud ecosystem as an important part of their overall product strategy. Some see it evolve as a multi-cloud / hybrid cloud strategy, while others are embracing all forms of cloud offerings like PaaS, IaaS and SaaS in their solutions,” noted Suhas Joshi, Vice President – Technology, at Harbinger Group, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff.
Oct. 6, 2015 02:45 PM EDT Reads: 363
Scott Guthrie's keynote presentation "Journey to the intelligent cloud" is a must view video. This is from AzureCon 2015, September 29, 2015 I have reproduced some screen shots in case you are unable to view this long video for one reason or another. One of the highlights is 3 datacenters coming on line in India.
Oct. 6, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 222
“The Internet of Things transforms the way organizations leverage machine data and gain insights from it,” noted Splunk’s CTO Snehal Antani, as Splunk announced accelerated momentum in Industrial Data and the IoT. The trend is driven by Splunk’s continued investment in its products and partner ecosystem as well as the creativity of customers and the flexibility to deploy Splunk IoT solutions as software, cloud services or in a hybrid environment. Customers are using Splunk® solutions to collect ...
Oct. 6, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 580
SYS-CON Events announced today that ProfitBricks, the provider of painless cloud infrastructure, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. ProfitBricks is the IaaS provider that offers a painless cloud experience for all IT users, with no learning curve. ProfitBricks boasts flexible cloud servers and networking, an integrated Data Center Designer tool for visual control over the...
Oct. 6, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 734
You have your devices and your data, but what about the rest of your Internet of Things story? Two popular classes of technologies that nicely handle the Big Data analytics for Internet of Things are Apache Hadoop and NoSQL. Hadoop is designed for parallelizing analytical work across many servers and is ideal for the massive data volumes you create with IoT devices. NoSQL databases such as Apache HBase are ideal for storing and retrieving IoT data as “time series data.”
Oct. 6, 2015 12:45 PM EDT Reads: 456
Clearly the way forward is to move to cloud be it bare metal, VMs or containers. One aspect of the current public clouds that is slowing this cloud migration is cloud lock-in. Every cloud vendor is trying to make it very difficult to move out once a customer has chosen their cloud. In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Naveen Nimmu, CEO of Clouber, Inc., will advocate that making the inter-cloud migration as simple as changing airlines would help the entire industry to quickly adopt the cloud wit...
Oct. 6, 2015 12:30 PM EDT Reads: 573
As the world moves towards more DevOps and microservices, application deployment to the cloud ought to become a lot simpler. The microservices architecture, which is the basis of many new age distributed systems such as OpenStack, NetFlix and so on, is at the heart of Cloud Foundry - a complete developer-oriented Platform as a Service (PaaS) that is IaaS agnostic and supports vCloud, OpenStack and AWS. In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Raghavan "Rags" Srinivas, an Architect/Developer Evangeli...
Oct. 6, 2015 12:15 PM EDT Reads: 101
DevOps is gaining traction in the federal government – and for good reasons. Heightened user expectations are pushing IT organizations to accelerate application development and support more innovation. At the same time, budgetary constraints require that agencies find ways to decrease the cost of developing, maintaining, and running applications. IT now faces a daunting task: do more and react faster than ever before – all with fewer resources.
Oct. 6, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 336
SYS-CON Events announced today that VividCortex, the monitoring solution for the modern data system, will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. The database is the heart of most applications, but it’s also the part that’s hardest to scale, monitor, and optimize even as it’s growing 50% year over year. VividCortex is the first unified suite of database monitoring tools specifically desi...
Oct. 6, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 406


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Gov. Mike DeWine finalized a bill hemp that is legalizing CBD in Ohio on Tuesday, July 30, 2019. (Photo: Jackie Borchardt/The Cincinnati Enquirer)
That’s exactly exactly how Dave Arend described the brand new legislation effortlessly closing CBD prohibition in Ohio, which had resulted in some restless evenings for the owner of one’s CBD Store in Anderson Township.
Arend exposed the shop July 1, completely mindful that the sale of cannabidiol in Ohio ended up being nevertheless unlawful outside state-licensed marijuana that is medical. The hemp-derived CBD products that Arend sells contain only trace levels of THC, the substance in cannabis plants that gets you high.
Just six months earlier in the day, state and regional officials had cracked straight down on stores offering CBD items, forcing them to get rid of, or “embargo,’’ these products from shop racks.
But that changed Tuesday.
Gov. Mike DeWine finalized Ohio’s hemp legalization bill, Senate Bill 57, into legislation on at the Ohio State Fair tuesday.
What the law states takes effect instantly, freeing all embargoes on CBD stock and going hemp-derived cannabidiol off Ohio’s managed substances list. In addition it means Ohio State University as well as other universities can grow their state’s first hemp come early july.
Arend expects a rush of brand new clients as a consequence of the brand new state legislation.
“I think this eliminates the stigma that everything we sell is medical marijuana,’’ Arend stated. “It’s maybe not, and then we surely anticipate more clients who would like the advantage of CBD with no a lot of medical marijuana.’’

domain: news


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PHOENIX (CBS.MW) --The largest radio broadcaster in the U.S. is selling music downloads on the Internet.
MusicNow, an on-demand service, is available on the Web sites of five Clear Channel Radio CCU, -3.47% stations in Phoenix, including KESZ-FM. FullAudio Corp. will provide the service. Subscribers pay either $7.49 or $14.99 a month to download 50 or 100 music tracks per month, and store them on their PCs as long as a year. The service will not support copying the music to portable devices or compact discs.
Clear Channel will extend MusicNow to owned stations in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City by the end of summer, a total of 30 stations. The broadcaster will use those outlets to promote it and encourage listeners to visit the Web sites.
"This type of music delivery will help strengthen Clear Channel's relationship with consumers by providing targeted information on radio listening habits via the Web," said Chris Gladwin, chairman and CEO of FullAudio. The company has agreements to offer music from the catalogs of Universal Music V, -2.70%, Warner Music Group AOL, +4.00% and EMI Recorded Music. MusicNow files are encoded using Microsoft's MSFT, -3.19% Windows Media format.
Gotham's new paper promises Web access
New York City's newest paper is promising to offer more than its own press releases on its Web site within six weeks. The New York Sun hit the streets Tuesday and despite many of its editors and staffers having backgrounds including Web reporting, the paper's site is bereft of editorial content. A spokeswoman for the Sun said newspaper stories will be available online within a month or so, but that some of the content will require payment.
Vacation planning propels travel sites
Almost two out of five Internet users visited an online travel Web site last month, according to a report by Nielsen/NetRatings NTRT. The researchers also estimated 51.2 million U.S. visitors accessed travel sites in March. "Spring and summer vacation planning and special (air) fares have brought buyers back to the Web," said Patrick Thomas, a senior Internet analyst. The most popular travel site was Expedia.com EXPE, -2.49%, with 11.6 million visitors, followed by Travelocity TVLY, +0.82%, Orbitz.com, Southwest Airlines, and CheapTickets.com. In its monthly report on Web activity, NetRatings also said the number of U.S. Internet users during the month rose one percent to 120 million.
Another research firm, ComScore Networks, reported a record $6.9 billion was spent at travel Web sites in the U.S. during the first quarter. ComScore tracks the online activity of 1.5 million people. Vice President Dan Hess estimated travel accounted for 41 percent of all online spending.
Yahoo markets Webcast services
Yahoo YHOO said Wednesday it would license its Webcast technology and tools to companies that want to offer online audio and video programming. Compaq CPQ, CPQ, Texas Instruments TXN and Canada Newswire are among nine clients that have signed up for to use the product, called Webcast Studio Professional. Yahoo said the package includes self-publishing tools necessary to create, edit, publish, manage and measure Webcasts.
You can listen to Internet Daily, too. Click to hear today's segment: Amazon.com defends used book sales. Call your local CBS station for broadcast times of Internet Daily on the Radio in your city.
You can also receive Internet Daily by e-mail. Click here to start the sign-up process. If you have a problem, e-mail me.


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Right now, Android One is one that you’d probably know as the new kid in town, with the proliferation of devices joining in take part of what uses to be Google’s line of affordable devices that offers a relatively plain stock Android experience.
After a long wait, Motorola finally unveiled its own Android One device with two new handsets the Motorola One and the Motorola One Power. What’s surprising here though is that Motorola quietly unveiled these two devices through their blog on their site with only the highlights of features were mentioned about these handsets.
The Motorola One, the base model of the two packs a 5.9-inch display with a 19:9 aspect ratio Full HD+ resolutions and it houses a display notch on top. At the back, the panel is laminated by glass and houses a dual camera system.
Speaking of cameras, the dual sensors on the Motorola One includes a primary 13 Megapixel sensor with a secondary sensor with yet to be known specs. But this setup when it comes to camera systems on a smartphone, there’s a huge possibility that this should be a depth sensing module and everything else about making bokeh effects.
The handset is powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset and is said to come with 4GB of RAM with expandable internal storage. The battery, well according to an Amazon listing, it’s rated at 3000 mAh.
The Motorola One Power on the other hand as the name suggest primarily comes with a bigger battery, it also has a larger footprint with a large 6.2-inch display and a display notch as well. It boosts a 19:9 Aspect ratio with Full HD+ resolutions. On the back, it’s all the same glass lamination as well with a dual camera module.
The handset promises a two-day battery life for the Motorola One Power but the company is yet to disclose the specifics of these handsets, so we are not sure for now on what rate the handset has on its battery.
With Android One, Motorola promises faster security updates for these two devices and earlier OS upgrades. But at launch, these two device will boot Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and said to get Android 9.0 Pie soon after.


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Force Unleashed 2 out in October
On Star Wars Day, LucasArts has decided to announce the release date for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.
Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Star Killer will make his return on October the 26th of this year.
This is the first bit of news that has been released on the new Star Wars title since it was first revealed at last year's VGAs.
Hopefully now that LucasArts has announced the release date they will begin to tease us with some more info on the game.
- New Destiny trailer teases interesting new stuff coming with The Dark Below
- Geometry Wars 3 hits PC today, consoles tomorrow
- Retail listing for ZombiU 2 spotted
- 343 admits last week's Halo: The Master Chief Collection patch didn't work as well as they'd hoped, promises to keep working
- Dark Souls II is heading to PS4, Xbox One and DirectX 11 PC next year
- Square Enix boss promises a brand new console RPG reveal next month
- Ubisoft reveals there will be no release day reviews for The Crew
- Surprise! Tales From The Borderlands episode one is out today
- StarCraft 2 pro-player expelled from Fragbite Masters tournament for Twitter rape comment about a female opponent


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Some of the popular Android apps available on Google Play seem to have a new malware – specifically adware, reports Avast, the antivirus software company. The three main malicious Android apps are the Durak card game, Russian History and an IQ test app, all of which have millions of downloads from Google Play. Interesting fact is that though the three apps are from different developers all seem to have the same malicious software installed.
Google, as soon as it got to know about the adware presence in these apps suspended them from the Google play listing.
When users unlock their smartphones that have these malicious Android apps installed, the malware acts in a way to display ads hidden as warning messages. This was first noted and informed by a user on Avast Forum along with a video showing how the malicious Android apps worked on the smartphone.
The user quoted that a dozen of apps on Google Play have same malicious ad SDK integrated. Every time the device gets unlocked an ad url opens up in the background or an interstitial ad shows up over the screen, all because of these malicious apps. Below is the video uploaded by the user.
Citing this on its forum, the antivirus software maker was quick to report that Avast Mobile Premium would detect such apps that display the adware. According to further reports, Avast is working on analyzing more apps other than the three apps mentioned above to find out if there are any more popular apps with the malware as according to the comment by the user on the forum, there seems to be dozen of apps infected with this malware.
Explaining on this, Filip Chytry, Avast researcher in his blog post states that first the malware was discovered and noted to the company by a comment on the Avast forums, which he initially didn’t think much about it.
However, when he further examined about the matter realized that the apps with the malware were actually found having quite a large target audience. First and foremost, these apps are available in Google Play with huge target audience in both English-speaking countries and other language countries. Next, these apps have been already downloaded by millions of users assuming Google Play’s app to be accurate.
Something that surprised Chytry is that the ads displayed by these apps lead to some legitimate companies. For example, Quihoo 360, the antivirus provider was one among the target. It could be that these companies are not marketing their services via adware but the possibility being that these malware authors get benefitted with some kind of referral scheme.
Also Read: Top 10 Best Free Adware Removal Tool
How the adware works?
The malicious apps are brilliant in the way they display the advertisements. The apps remain calm until the device gets restarted at least once. They do not show the ads immediately after getting installed on to the device, instead they wait for several days. At times they even stay composed for a month after the app has been installed on the phone before they could show the adware. And then every time users unlock their phones, the ads appear with the warning messages stating “your device is infected, out of date or full of porn.”
According to Chytry, some of the apps show their true colours after waiting for up to 30 days. After 30 days, not many users would be able to know as to which app is causing the trouble on their phone. These warning messages that pop up every time users unlock their devices are prank messages meant to redirect the users to harmful threats like downloading other malware-laden apps which include the ones sending premium SMSes or may be the ones which collect personal data.
Also it could be as concerned by Chytry that in some cases the users might get directed to other antivirus and security apps available on Google Play, which could probably be the work of companies or developers in a way to promote their apps through this adware. The end result even after getting these security apps installed from Google Play would be the repeating of the same malicious messages.
With Android taking control of a huge portion in the smartphone market, it becomes important to consider these kind of problems like malware, spam, adware and many more seriously. According to Avast, it is now in contact with the antivirus company to which the malicious Android apps were redirecting their users and the company is now investigating the matter.
And yes, this is not the first time for Android apps getting affected with malicious behavior. If noted, in the past there were reports indicating that about 99 mobile devices out of every 100 devices falling prey to malware are Android run devices. Even last year, one of a high paid app on Google Play store was discovered fake.
Caution, users are requested to be careful while downloading apps even from Google Play store, recommended reading reviews thoroughly and choosing trusted developers.
Post in your views and suggestions with regards to the article in the comments section below. Anything more to be added to the article can also be noted in the section below.


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Carnival Cruise Line announced today that it will resume regular calls to Grand Bahama beginning this Friday, Oct. 11, when Carnival Pride will dock in Freeport. Carnival Elation will follow on Sunday, Oct. 13 and Carnival Freedom on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Carnival Pride departed Baltimore on Sunday, Oct. 6 on a week-long cruise with nearly 2,400 guests. All told between now and the end of the year, Carnival Cruise Line expects to host 39 calls in Freeport, bringing more than 100,000 visitors to the destination and providing a significant impact to the local economy. For the full year, over 400,000 guests will visit Grand Bahama on a Carnival cruise vacation aboard 10 different ships sailing from nine different U.S. homeports.
“Carnival Cruise Line is proud to be such a big year-round supporter for cruise tourism to Freeport so we are very excited to provide our guests the opportunity to again visit this popular destination,” said Terry Thornton, Carnival’s senior vice president of nautical and port operations. “Cruise ship visits are important to the local economy and our shore excursion team has been working closely with local tour operators and has confirmed a variety of attractive onshore excursions for our guests.”
More than 15 shore excursions will be offered, including The All Inclusive Beach Club; A Select Retreat with Beach and Water Toys; and the VIP Luxury Sail, to name just a few.
Added Senator James Kwasi Malik Thompson, minister of state for Grand Bahama, “The rebuilding of Grand Bahama has begun. We welcome the return of Carnival Cruise Line back to Grand Bahama after Hurricane Dorian. Carnival is an incredible partner for the Bahamas and Grand Bahama.”
On Monday, Carnival Ecstasy arrived in Freeport to undergo an extensive 12-day dry dock at the Grand Bahama shipyard, becoming the first cruise ship to utilize the facility since Hurricane Dorian.
The company’s relief efforts include a $2 million pledge from Carnival Corporation and the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation, as well as relief shipments delivered by Carnival Cruise Line ships and via a partnership with Tropical Shipping. Carnival employees and guests have also donated well over $500,000 through online giving tools and collections on embarkation day and onboard.


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Five-in-one food show plans to open its doors to food, business on June 25
By John Liu, The China Post
May 25, 2014, 12:00 am TWN
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The 24th Taipei International Food Show will be held between June 25 and 28, featuring a total of five shows: Food Taipei, FoodTech & PharmaTech Taipei, Taipei Pack, Taiwan Horeca, and Halal Taiwan.
Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the five-in-one mega show will be held at Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) Nangang Exhibition Hall and TWTC Exhibition Hall 1. More than 3,700 stands have already been set up by more than 1,500 companies at the exhibition halls, the TAITRA said.
Brand names Bizerba and Kerres from Germany will present their food preparation equipment. Sun Village Wince Co. (上村酒廠) will showcase its fruit wine. Dynas International Corp. (威加國際) will present its naturally made camellia oil and organic miso products. Chu Bar Wang (廚霸王) will showcase their cookware such as ovens and noodle boilers. Ai Shin Machine (愛心機械廠) will showcase its fully automatic packaging machines.
With the newly launched MRT Xinyi Line and Nangang Line, the TAITRA expects higher numbers of visitors this year. For added convenience, the organizer is offering a free shuttle service to transport visitors between the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall and TWTC Exhibition Hall 1. Business attendants may also apply for a pass which may be used throughout the four-day exhibition period.
According to the TAITRA website, products exhibited at the show encompass fresh fruits and vegetables, preserved fruits and vegetables, poultry, seafood, meat and processed meat products, edible oils, dairy products, health food, frozen prepared food, canned food, baked food, biscuits, wine and liquor, coffee and tea, juice and soft drinks, condiments and confectionery and ice cream.
The show is open to professionals only between June 25 and 27, and is open to the general public on June 28. Tickets sell at NT$300 per adult and are not available to children under twelve years old.


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Microsoft has announced the new Windows as a service a monthly subscription fee for Windows 10 usage. Windows 10 will cost $7 per user per month, but don’t worry it only applies to enterprises, for now. The new pricing tier will be called Windows 10 Enterprise E3 and it means Windows will now coming like Office 365 and Azure as a subscription service.
Microsoft said, “This new subscription model is not associated with our current upgrade offering or applicable to the Windows 10 consumer edition.”
Windows 10 is the last version of Windows and there will be no Windows 11 to replace it. The Windows free upgrade offer is closing on July 29th and Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro will then cost $119 and $199.


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“The sampling market has evolved a lot over the past few years,” explains CEO Dominique Lourel. “But today, our deliberately high-end positioning and our closeness to our customers’ needs are a real asset.” The company boasts a customer portfolio with both major and niche brands. But the two main strengths of this SME from Western France are innovation and flexibility. “It has clearly become second nature to us,” adds Dominique Lourel. “Innovation is an integral part of our market vision.”
The company is actually set to showcase a brand new concept in early 2019.
Cofatech’s main markets include skincare, hair care and, since 2008, alcohol products, in particular perfumes showcased in vials for which a new workshop was set up. “It was a significant change,” explains Dominique Lourel. “This activity represents 50% of our business today.”
And then, there are bags. This market requires great reactivity and a constant presence to quickly meet demand. The wide variety and high availability of 0.4 ml to 50 ml bag ranges is one of the company’s most precious assets.


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3i is smiling on Shine
SHINE Entertainment, the TV and film production company set up by Elisabeth Murdoch and Lord Alli two months ago, has raised £6m for expansion. The funding is from venture capital group 3i. Shine already has a two-year TV and film agreement with BSkyB and a deal to develop TV formats for magazine publisher IPC Media.
Labour peer Lord Alli sold his Planet 24, maker of The Big Breakfast, to Carlton Communications.
Murdoch, an ex-BSkyB executive and daughter of media tycoon Rupert, is chief executive and majority shareholder in Shine.
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As you all know that Deadline to file returns extended to 28 August .Yes this is true that GST relief for taxpayers extended to 28 August. The government on Thursday gave some day relief to taxpayers availing of transitional input tax credit under the GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime by giving them an more extra week till 28 August 28 to file tax returns. As we know GST council has fixed GST on 1200 products in four tax category 5,12,18 and 28 percent.TruGST software that is based according to GST guidelines is best GST software in India.
One another news came into picture today that government is going to give 2 percent relief on Digital Payments just like 2 percent incentive over the overall GST tax rate if it is done by digital payments.But government will be discuss about this discount or cash back 2 % proposal with GST Council, finance ministry, RBI, Cabinet secretariats and ministry of IT and electronics.
This idea of 2% relief on all kind of Digital payments will endorse the government’s plan making India less cash economy means digital India.
India government is mulling about this proposal .It might possible that in future taxpayers will get more beneficial proposals on GST. TruGST is advanced GST accounting software in India that is easy to use and reduce manual work.


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Standard version gets three-star rating while the one fitted with an additional safety pack scored a perfect five-stars
Maruti is all set to bring in the Ignis to India early next year, but before its official launch, the European-spec model has been put through a test by Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Program). The standard model of the Suzuki Ignis scored a three-star rating. This variant comes fitted with front and side airbags, seat belt pretensioner, seat belt loadlimiter and ISO Fix at the back.
The standard Ignis scored a reasonable 79 per cent in adult and child occupant safety, and 67 per cent in pedestrian safety. The fully loaded version of the Ignis with additional features for pedestrian safety, lane assist and more, scored a perfect five in the test. Thanks to all these features, the adult occupant safety goes up to 87 per cent and pedestrian safety up to 77 per cent.
The official Euro NCAP report read, “The passenger compartment of the Ignis remained stable in the offset deformable frontal impact test. Dummy readings indicated good protection of the knees and femurs of the driver and passenger. Compression of the driver dummy's chest indicated weak protection of this part of the body and injury parameters for the lower legs revealed marginal protection.”
The Suzuki Ignis will only be launched in India in the first half of 2017. Although Maruti Suzuki had announced its launch during the festive season this year, there have been delays due to the response the Baleno hatchback has been receiving. The Manesar-based car maker is currently focusing its production capacity on the Baleno until the new plant in Gujrat becomes fully operational.
The Maruti Suzuki Ignis will employ a 1.2-litre petrol motor that is good for 88bhp. It is also likely to come with the trusted Fiat sourced 1.3-litre diesel motor on offer. In order to keep the costs in check, the Ignis that will come to India may not get as much safety tech as the European spec model.


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Amazon has rolled out a slew of new features for its Alexa personal assistant that will help U.S. users check in on an aging family member from afar.
Called the Care Hub, the features allow users to program a set of activity alerts that are delivered from an in-home Alexa-enabled device to the caregiver's Alexa app. These can include a heads up when a senior first uses their Alexa device each day, or a warning if no activity is detected by a certain time. Family members can also request a more in-depth log of their elder's activities – although Amazon notes that put some privacy-minded measures in place for these reports.
"For example, when checking the activity feed, the family member would be able to see their loved one was using Alexa for entertainment, but not the song or podcast they were listening to, or what they said to Alexa," the company wrote in its announcement.
Should the family member see cause for concern, they can quickly initiate a phone call or two-way chat through the app. Similarly, the linked account can be designated as an emergency contact, allowing the senior to trigger a call or other alert to the family member with the phrase, "Alexa, call for help."
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
As digital monitoring tools increase aging seniors' ability to live independently in their own homes, technologies like Amazon Alexa have been highlighted by experts as a key resource due to their intuitive voice-based interface. Amazon's move to build dedicated first-party support for monitoring and emergency alerts could increase adoption among families, and further cements the AI assistant's place in seniors' homes.
THE LARGER TREND
From robotic pets to innovative fall-detection and emergency-communication tools, a wealth of new technologies is seeking to help seniors who are living alone stay healthy and safe. But even within the AI personal assistant space alone, new products are being developed with seniors in mind. These include Intuition Robotics' ElliQ, Catalia Health's Mabu, and even mobile robot companions like Cutii,
As for Amazon, the company was first rumored to be building a "health & wellness" team within its Alexa division back in the spring of 2018. At that time, the potential focus areas included diabetes management and maternal health, alongside aging care.
More recently, the company released its first wearable health tracker and a companion app. Called the Amazon Halo, the screenless device tracks activity, sleep, temperature, heart rate, activity and even voice.


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The Toronto Maple Leafs’ parent company is locked in a legal battle with rapper Snoop Dogg over his bid to trademark Leafs By Snoop, the musician’s new line of marijuana products.
Snoop, whose given name is Calvin Broadus Jr., filed a trademark application for Leafs By Snoop, with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office in November. His logo features the slogan in white lettering over top of a seven-leaf green plant, according to his trademark application, which was obtained by TSN.
Snoop said he planned to use the logo on products such as cigarette lighters.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment filed an opposition to Snoop’s logo on June 8, asking the Alexandria, Va.-based trademark office for more time to detail its opposition.
MLSE spokesman Dave Haggith declined to comment. Snoop’s lawyer Lawrence Apolzon did not return a call seeking comment.
According to The Cannabist Website, Snoop began selling his Leafs By Snoop line of marijuana flower and cannabis products in Colorado pot shops last November. The Leafs By Snoop products include eight strains of marijuana flower, including “Cali Kush,” “Northern Lights,” and “Blueberry Dream.”
Christopher Sprigman, an intellectual properties professor at the New York University School of Law, said MLSE might make several arguments against Snoop’s trademark.
MLSE might argue that the Leafs By Snoop logo causes confusion in the market place, Sprigman said.
“The Maple Leafs might say that their brand has been tarnished by confusion over Snoop’s new logo,” Sprigman said. “That’s quaint but a tough argument. I don’t see a lot of overlap between Colorado pot smokers and Maple Leafs fans.”
Sprigman said MLSE might also argue that its logo meets the requirement for fame under U.S. trademark protections. But that, too, would be difficult, he said.
“The Maple Leafs would have to successfully argue that the general U.S. consuming public, elderly adults, young adults and children across the country, are familiar with and identify with the Leafs logo,” Sprigman said. “I don’t think that’s true. Maybe in hockey markets, but I really don’t see the Leafs being a familiar brand in Iowa or Arkansas or other non-hockey cities.”
Snoop has been an aggressive investor in the marijuana industry.
A year ago, he assembled a fund specifically to invest in marijuana-related companies, according to the website TechCrunch.
“Since I’ve been at the forefront of this movement for over 20 years now, I’m a master of marijuana,” Snoop told The Cannabist. “So naturally, my people can trust that I picked out the finest, freshest products in the game. Let’s medicate, elevate and put it in the air.”


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By Denna Bowman
Bridgestone is set to increase the price of its passenger and light truck tyres by up to 6 per cent from 1st June.
The price hike applies to all Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand replacement and original equipment tyres, but will only take place in the United States market.
Eduardo Minardi, chairman, CEO and president of Bridgestone Americas Tyre Operations LLC (BATO), said: “The steady increase in raw materials and energy costs made it necessary for us to take this action.
‘While we are successfully implementing measures at all levels of our company to enhance our efficiencies and increase our productivity, those efforts are simply not enough to overcome the escalation of raw material costs.”
Continental and Goodyear, two of the largest tyres manufacturers in the world, have already announced similar price rises due to the rising cost of materials, and analysts expect French tyre manufacturing giant Michelin to follow suit shortly.


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Game developer Xaviant has announced that their free-to-play game The Culling will become unavailable starting on May 2019.
In a farewell post published on The Culling’s official website, Josh Van Veld has revealed that the servers that the game has been using will go offline on May 15th. While the online mode of the game will become inaccessible, Director of Operations has assured that the offline features of the game will remain accessible after the servers went down. In addition to that, there will be no in-game purchases will be entertained.
With the arrival of new battle royale games these past few years, The Culling’s revenue slowly went down. The company decides to make the game free-to-play hoping to generate more revenue to support the game, however, it seems like it still failed to reach its target. As a result, they have decided to shut down the service.
Now that The Culling is officially coming to its end, Xaviant’s door is still open for interested companies or individuals who are willing to take the risk to continue the game and its potential. Detailed in the post-announcement, Josh Van Veld has shared the email address for anyone who is interested to save the game.
The Culling is one of the first video game who entered the battle royale genre in the market. It was initially released on March 2016.


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Mobile phone customers will be ale to ditch an old provider by sending a free text message in future, under sweeping regulator reforms.
The simple text messaging system looks to alleviate this pain and bypass the need to bounce between various departments of a telecoms provider when swapping networks.
Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom's consumer group director, says: "Too many people are put off by the hassle of switching mobile provider.
This will put an end to people paying for old and new services at the same time - saving United Kingdom mobile customers around £10m in total each year." .
In its background research Ofcom found that 38 per cent of mobile switchers (2.5 million people) experienced at least one major difficulty in changing mobile service provider.
First Ever Women's "Royal Rumble" Match Announced
Stephanie said: "The first-ever women's Royal Rumble match will mark a significant moment in the evolution of WWE ". Personally I'm very optimistic and excited for this match. "They deserve their own match at Royal Rumble ".
The short response time for consumers means they should be able to receive the code they need while looking for a new deal, for instance on the phone with a supplier or in a retail outlet.
Under the changes, operators will no longer be able to charge for notice periods running after the switch date, so customers will no longer have to pay bills from two companies.
The communications regulator said that the changes will come into effect in 18 months and will make it quicker and easier for people and businesses to leave their mobile company. The new rules will save consumers around £10m annually, Ofcom suggested.
Here's how it works: You request a code online, by text, or by calling your provider.
It wants to make it quicker and easier for customers unhappy with their current company to switch to a new firm. As a result of the changes, Ofcom says it will be saving United Kingdom consumers around £10 million each year due to the ban on notice periods.
5-year-old's heroic 911 call saves Christmas from Grinch
A 5-year-old MS boy was anxious the Grinch was going to steal Christmas after he watched one too many videos. The video of the endearing interaction between the little boy and Officer Develle quickly went viral.
The provider's reply must also include important information about any early termination charges, outstanding handset costs, or pay-as-you-go credit balances.
Currently, users have to call service providers to cancel their contract outright, or request their PAC code if they want to keep their number.
The new system will require networks to start coordinating with the competition a bit better, and change their existing infrastructure to accommodate it.
Even better, once the code has been processed your old contract will terminate immediately, effectively ending any confusion or additional charges that might arise from the usual 30-day notice periods.
Jonghyun, lead singer of K-pop group Shinee, dies
Kim also launched a solo career in 2015, with his debut studio album "She Is" peaking at No. 1 on the South Korean charts. He was scheduled to hold concerts with SHINee members in Tokyo and Osaka in February, Yonhap reported.
- Twitter Suspends Britain First Leaders Who President Trump Retweeted
- CME Futures Rolled Out Smoothly; Bitcoin Remains Bullish
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: "Top quality" Coutinho remains fully focused on Liverpool
- Two security guards killed as Daesh attack intelligence training centre in Kabul
- Benteke scores first of season as Palace win at Leicester
- Samsung unveils Galaxy A8 (2018), A8+(2018) with dual front camera
- Lewis wants to leave Bengals after contract expires
- Apple reportedly working on "upgraded" AirPods for launch during 2018
- Hundreds gather gifts for needy kids at Catawba County Christmas Bureau
- People with Egg Allergies Shouldn't Worry About the Flu Shot, Guidelines Say


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Warm, gooey, and delivered right to your door.
Beginning Satruday, Krispy Kreme will launch a nationwide delivery service of their popular donuts. You have to be near one of their 350 locations in the US, and within 10 miles of one in most cases. But you’ll be able to place orders online or with their app for a $5 fee.
To celebrate the new delivery service on Leap Day, the company says stores will be delivering free donuts to hospital staff and parents of Leap Day babies near their stores.


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Cybersecurity professionals, responsible for securing their organizations’ digital assets, are seeing their job function has changed during the coronavirus pandemic, new research shows. Ninety percent say they are now working remotely full-time.
Smart mobile devices have become almost as necessary as breathing today. A wide range of devices are available – more than ever before, and at ever more affordable price points, fueling their ubiquity. The capabilities of these smart mobile devices are also expanding. They allow us to access more social media platforms than we have friends, provide us quick access to all the information on the web, handle our schedules, and most importantly, they allow us to be proactive with our security.
When traveling for business, it’s necessary for safety precautions to extend beyond the typical nine to five working parameters. Throughout the entirety of a business trip, business travelers should remain diligent around the clock, taking additional precautions to ensure their personal safety. There are several security measures both a business and its mobile workforce should keep in mind as they book business travel accommodations, check into their hotels in remote locations and conduct business while in an unfamiliar area.
With the rapid growth of business travelers, especially millennial business travelers, companies often find it difficult to manage travel safety, health and security of their employees. This rapid growth also brings changes to the diverse composition of a mobile workforce and the risks associated with it. As the modern workforce continues to grow, there is no one-size-fits all approach to answering questions surrounding workplace law and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) employees.
A new survey has found that 88 percent or organizations uncovered a misrepresentation on a resume and 84 percent reported that verifying new hires' previous employment history and education credentials uncovered issues that would not have been found otherwise.


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Skyjack is bringing excitement, innovation, and their largest RT yet to The ARA Show in Anaheim. The leading manufacturer has been hinting at a newer, higher, redesigned RT range, and is bringing the first of that lineup with them to California this February.
“We’ve been looking at our rough terrain lineup for sometime and trying to determine how we can design them to be even more beneficial for our customers,” says Barry Greenaway, product manager at Skyjack. “We found an opportunity with the ANSI redesign to enhance certain features that we think will better serve rental companies, and their customers.”
Join us at 10:00 am Monday, February 18th at booth #4537 to hear all of the updates at Skyjack’s press conference. All are welcome to attend and see how this leading equipment manufacturer is reaching higher for their customers.


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Our aim is to make Asian wedding inspiration more accessible for everyone.
London, UK (PRWEB UK) 21 May 2013
From the start of the year Asian Bride have outdone themselves with the release of their revamped magazine and the launch of their exciting new asian wedding inspiration website. However, the icing on the cake is set to be Asian Bride Live, taking place on October 13th later this year in the prestigious Flagship Novotel London West hotel.
The wedding show will be spread over three floors, including a magical fashion catwalk and for the first time ever a dedicated make up theatre. With over 100 of the industry’s finest suppliers showcasing their products and services, customers will be provided with an abundance of inspiration and ideas for their big day.
The show will also boast an innovative digital strategy with an app in the pipeline. The idea behind the app is to make it easier for customers and suppliers to get in touch with each other after the show, thus providing attendees with a far more rounded service than any other event of this type.
Asian Bride Live will be the first Asian wedding exhibition to be hosted to the West of London. CEO & Executive Producer Pali Banwait explains why they have chosen the Novotel London West as the setting for their show. “The hotel is Novotel’s flagship hotel and we have carefully selected it for its prime location. It is convenient for both attendees and exhibitors with key road links, multiple tube lines, ample parking and proximity to Heathrow. Our aim is to make Asian wedding inspiration more accessible for everyone.”
The team behind Asian Bride Live have been brought together based on their industry expertise and passion for all things weddings. The executive team includes Event Director Waleed Jahangir who has extensive international event management and promotion expertise. In addition, Fashion co-ordinator Naseeba Sacranie is regarded as the queen of Asian fashion choreography and known for her ability to put on a catwalk show that is no less than a theatrical extravaganza!
Asian Bride have set themselves apart from everyone else in the market in recent months with their forward thinking and digital innovation being rolled out at a canter. Their most recent ventures suggest that Asian Bride Live will be a wedding exhibition with a difference. For more information on Asian Bride Live visit their website and keep up to date with their Facebook and Twitter (#AsianBrideLive).


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Lady Gaga’s ‘love affair’ with Versace
London: Lady Gaga’s promise to dress only in Versace outfits for two months, got off to a solid start with her new video ``The Edge of Glory``.
Gaga, who earlier revealed in an interview that she was only going to wear Versace for the next two months, successfully sustained her fashion obsession, wearing vintage Versace throughout her latest music video.
The video saw the 25-year-old singer dangling out the window of an apartment block dressed in a variety of Versace looks straight out of the label’s Nineties heyday, reports the Telegraph.
And it seems that Donatella Versace is also a Lady Gaga fan, as she opened up the label’s archives for the first time since her brother Gianni’s death in 1997.


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Double your impact this holiday season
The Canadian Cancer Society is proud to partner with Stanfield’s Limited in the fight for life and to raise awareness about below-the-waist men’s cancers. Based in Nova Scotia, Stanfield’s is an apparel company specializing in men’s underwear, winter underwear, socks, sportswear, fire-resistant garments and women’s underwear.
In its partnership with the Society, Stanfield’s launched an interactive social media campaign featuring the Stanfield’s Gitchhiker, Mark, a survivor of testicular cancer. Mark thumbed his way from Vancouver to the Stanfield’s factory in Truro, Nova Scotia – wearing nothing but his underwear.
Research at the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control led to a new standard in leukemia testing.
Investing to reduce cancer burden
Last year CCS funded $40 million in cancer research, thanks to our donors. Discover how you can help reduce the burden of cancer.


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City Commissioners pave the way for a new grocery store to be open in North Salina by the end of the year. Commissioners Monday approved up to $250,000 in sales tax reimbursement to help finance the project.
A Save-A-Lot neighborhood grocery store will be built in the vacant building that formerly housed a Dillons grocery store at 511 East Iron Avenue.
Save-A-Lot has more than 1,300 stores nationwide. According to the company website, they deliver savings on discount groceries, up to 40% compared to conventional grocery stores.
The building on Iron Avenue has been vacant since late 2012, when Dillons closed the store as they opened a new location on East Cloud Street.
Once work begins, the owners believe it will 5 to 6 months to get the store ready to open. The goal is to have it open before the end of the year.


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Is continuing slippage in NAVs of equity funds risk to market?
The answer is yes.
In August, equity and equity-linked mutual funds saw net sales decline to Rs 5,900 crore, down 71 per cent from the peak of Rs 20,400 crore inflow reported in August 2017. This aggregate sales number included equity, arbitrage, and ELSS funds. From March till August this year, average net sales were Rs 8,900 crore – half of the average during the GST dislocation period.
These all indicate that investor appetite for mutual funds peaked out around early 2018. This could be true for direct investment of retail investors as well.
Traditionally, net sales of equity mutual funds have demonstrated a stronger correlation with the performance of the overall market, but only a modest negative correlation with G-sec yields (-0.11), underpinning our view of the self-fulfilling nature of flows from retail investors. Further, the demonetisation and the GST dislocation had created idle liquidity, which eventually found its way to the market and created a valuation distortion, especially in the midcap and smallcap segments.
Available data validate our thesis of bi-directional causality between flows to mutual funds and equity market valuation, and we have observed that the three-month lag correlation between net sales of equity mutual funds with midcap and benchmark indices was high at 0.80 in last two years.
When it comes to net financial savings of households, net of financial liabilities, the FY18 number of 7.1 per cent of disposable income is just a modest increase considering that in FY17, it had declined to 6.7 per cent due to the demonetisation shock. Note that in FY16, it stood at 8.1 per cent. Ironically, data reveal that the portion of currency in households’ financial assets jumped to 2.8 per cent of disposable income in FY18, higher than the pre-demonetization level of 1.6 per cent (FY16). Adding to this trend, gross financial assets, excluding currency holdings, actually declined to 8.3 per cent of disposable income, much lower than the pre-demonetisation average of 9.3 per cent.
With the strong pace of growth in mortgage lending at more than 20 per cent per annum, higher than both disposable income and consumption growth, households’ net financial savings were much lesser than that of physical assets such as real estate — about 43 per cent in financial assets vs 57 per cent in physical assets.
In essence, the data on financial savings of households is counterintuitive to the prevailing notion of financialisation in India after demonetisation.
Taking into account the lacklustre profit growth of India Inc and high combined revenue deficit of state and central governments (3 per cent in FY18 vs. 2.3 per cent in FY17) as well as moderate growth in household savings rate to 16.4, overall India saving rate continued its decline and stood at 28.4 per cent for FY18 vs. 26.6 per cent in FY17 — a conclusion that is evident from the decline in investment rates and the rising current account deficit inferred from FY18 GDP numbers.
Net-net, there is little evidence of a structural rise in financial savings of households.
The sustainability of the recent catch-up rally in the broader market after a 17-20 per cent decline earlier this year seems difficult. Although the midcap index’s trailing PE declined to 39 times in August from 51 times in December 2017, compared with the benchmark Sensex and Nifty, it’s still a premium of 56 per cent. It could go back to an average discount of 12-15 per cent that existed before May 2014 instead of a premium.
Interestingly, the fall in the midcap index has mirrored a drop in net sales of equity mutual funds, while largecap indices were relatively less affected by the fall in retail participation.
To conclude, going forward, retail investors’ risk-taking appetite will likely remain modest due to macro headwinds, including higher risk-free rates, moderating global liquidity, rupee depreciation, and uncertainty ahead of the 2019 general election. This could affect valuation multiples generally, and could possibly reverse the cyclical improvement in earnings growth achieved on currency depreciation and better consumption demand.


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Although mobile operators have terabytes of valuable customer data at their disposal, they still complain that existing subscriber data do not give them enough information to analyze customer behavior due to fragmented databases and legacy data management platforms.
According to research by UK-based Loudhouse, 53% of respondents say their existing customer data infrastructure does not enable analysis of customer behavior.
Almost 46%, on the other hand, state that data is not being analyzed quickly enough. A mere 14% of those polled have visibility of customer churn rates on a real-time basis.
In light of this, 87% of the respondents say they are considering improving customer insights over the next year.


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Update: The first trailer for Abandoned is now available and it is just the same teaser trailer that everyone saw three days ago. That’s it.
It does, however, have other slots that will open at a later time. Gameplay videos, cinematic videos, and more. It does not have any time written though, so that will take a long time to wait.
Original story: A new update from the official website of controversial game developer Blue Box Game Studios has been revealed, which should be about the Abandoned patch for its PS5 interactive trailer.
Blue Box Game Studios posted one line on its website with a very bright neon green background. It says that “The issue has been resolved. The patch will be live in a few hours.” This could only mean the issue behind the delayed PS5 patch for the interactive trailer for their upcoming video game has finally been solved.
With the patch finally going live in a few hours, curious viewers will finally get a look at what this new game is all about. Several fans of the Silent Hill franchise still say it is a new title for the series with its horror theme and all. Only a few fans of Metal Gear are still hoping that it is a new Metal Gear Solid game or perhaps a remake of the original.
Either way, everyone is finally glad that the Abandoned PS5 interactive trailer patch is finally going live and we can watch the trailer soon.


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Fort Pierce Trader's Market brings organic grocery, cafe, yoga and more to downtown
A new grocery store inspired by Trader Joe’s, The Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market will open this summer in downtown Fort Pierce.
“When I first started planning everything, I would use that description myself,” said co-owner Daniel Cedeño, who has a background as a chef. “But as time went on, I saw the need to kind of stray away from those brands and start creating our own.”
The Fort Pierce Trader’s Market, at 111 Orange Ave., will open in the historic One Eleven Building on the corner of Indian River Drive by the end of May. It will include a cafe; focus on local, organic and healthy food; and eventually be an activity hub.
The idea came from Cedeño’s wife, Keli, who had been a fan of Trader Joe’s for years, shopping for their four children, ages 13, 7, 2 and 9 months.
She always wondered why St. Lucie County didn’t have a similar store.
“It was just a combination of that and just the right opportunity,” Cedeño said. “There was a location that opened up in downtown Fort Pierce that had everything we needed.”
The One Eleven Building was built in 1940 and still has its original bank vaults and cash rooms. It later had professional offices and was home to the Art Mundo art gallery and then Anytime Fitness before it sat vacant for years, Cedeño said.
He signed a lease for the 12,000-square-foot first floor in February, with his partners: father Jorge Cedeño, as well as Sylvia Soto-Marlin and Jean-Pierre Burke.
Cedeño has three other businesses in the area. He opened Deli-Cious on Second Street in December 2019, not three months before COVID-19 hit here March 19. After a year and a half in business, he closed the deli to move it into the grocery store as a cafe.
By May, he'll open a yet-to-be-named ice cream shop in the current location of Brooklyn Sweets, which will close at the end of April because an owner died and COVID-19 hurt its finances, according to its Facebook page.
Photo gallery: Construction of The Galleria of Pierce Harbor
Diversifying beyond food, Cedeño carries smoking and vaping devices to cater to a market that's growing along with medical marijuana dispensaries.
He'll also sell locally made art, soaps, jewelry and apparel.
“Nobody wants to put all their eggs in one basket,” Cedeño said. “If you lose somewhere, you don’t lose everything you got.”
Local, organic, healthy
Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market Manager Clarence Brown said the new store will complement, not compete with, the Saturday morning event in nearby Marina Square.
“I like the fact that we’re having a store like that come here, especially because it’s local,” Brown said.
The new market and cafe will take up about 9,000 square feet, and Cedeño plans to build out the remaining 3,000 square feet into an activity and wellness center with local instructors teaching yoga and Pilates.
He describes the renovated space as modern, but he still showcases the building’s history. For example, a bank vault door will be used as a selfie spot with the grocery store’s name.
He still is sourcing vendors for his products. He’s found local farms for produce, but he’s having difficulty finding local breads and snacks.
“If it’s not local, it’s at least going to be organic and healthy, sourced properly from responsible vendors,” Cedeño said.
Dispensers at the market will be filled with rice, quinoa, flour, sugar or other grains, so shoppers don’t have to buy a whole pound of any one item.
The cafe will have meats and cheese by the pound, as well as build-your-own salads and sandwiches, plus meals off the grill. Grab-and-go meals will have vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. He plans to rotate items and make them seasonally.
His goal is to be competitive with Trader Joe’s, The Fresh Market, Whole Foods Market and similar stores, but with fair pricing. He said the cost needs to work for the owners as well as Fort Pierce's blue-collar community.
“I’m not looking to charge people an arm and a leg for something just because I need to become a millionaire quicker,” Cedeño said.
It’s tough to stay healthy when busy, he said, and the market will give people access to a healthier place where they can be in and out quickly and conveniently.
He’s focusing on what’s not readily available, especially in Fort Pierce.
Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Follow her on Twitter at @TCPalmLaurie or Facebook at faceboook.com/TCPalmLaurie.


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Immediation, an Aussie legaltech start-up that aims to reduce the cost of mediating legal disputes, has raised $3.75 million in a bid to expand its offering internationally.
The company, founded by barrister Laura Keily, is backed by billionaire investor Alex Waislitz through his private company Thorney Investment Group.
Melbourne-based Immediation has ramped up its expansion plans after experiencing a tenfold increase in the number of people using its platform in the seven months to October this year.
The company has also entered into arrangements with the Federal Court of Australia, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the New Zealand Ministry of Justice with a view to resolving matters destined for mediation more quickly by diverting them to the online platform.
COVID-19 has accelerated the popularity of the platform, which provides online resolution to matters involving family, employment, business disputes and cross-border disputes at a lower cost than traditional mediation options.
"From the beginning, our focus has been to make justice more accessible to all," says Keily.
"Technology has transformed industries like health and accounting, and now with COVID, the legal industry is seeing the real power technology can play to alleviate mounting pressures on the court system, and make justice more affordable, more amicable, and more accessible for all.
"We have seen during 2020 that virtual court, virtual mediations and virtual hearings are not just possible - they are critical."
Since launching the platform last year, Keily says Immediation has addressed hundreds of matters.
"This funding will allow us to accelerate the trends that are right in front of us," she says.
"We'll continue to invest in our technology, our people, and our international expansion, ultimately taking the burden off overwhelmed court systems globally and making it easier for all to achieve a legal outcome."
Waislitz, a seasoned investor who has previously backed former start-ups Afterpay (ASX: APT) and NEXTDC (ASX: NXT), is chairman of the listed Thorney Investments (ASX: TEK). He says the justice system is "ripe for disruption".
"Immediation offers the possibility of online resolution of disputes at a time when COVID has helped hasten the adoption of technology across all sectors, including legal.
"We have been impressed with Immediation's business model, its growth to date and with Laura Keily and her management team.
"Provided Immediation can continue to execute well, we expect it to grow quickly and to have global application."
Immediation plans to extend its international reach to the US, with a specific focus on international hiring and product development targeting key areas of the legal system.
The funds raised by the company also will be used to develop its bespoke technology for online courts and mediation with plans to branch out to family law dispute resolution.Never miss a news update, subscribe here. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
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Huawei is undergoing one of its management reshuffling phases again, and consequently, the tech giant’s CEO Ren Zhengfei has officially stepped down for the Huawei’s director board and CEO duties. The shuffling does not stop here, the company’s chairman Sun Yafang has also resigned from the post and his duties as the legal representative of Huawei.
In addition to this, the Rotating Chairman Xu Zhijun, Chen Zhidong, and Dong Qingyang have also given up their posts and will be stepping down from their crucial roles at Huawei.
For now, Guo Ping will be taking over the position of Rotating and Acting Chairman for the company as well as the head of the Board of directors and the Executive Committee.
The reshuffling of the top management in Chinese companies, specifically Huawei, is not something new. The company has witnessed several significant management changes since its procurement. It is not wrong to say that management reshuffling has become a part of the way Huawei operates.
The main reason behind this shift in management is to prevent stagnant and mundane creativity. If the same management resides over a company for long, loss of fresh ideas is inevitable. Hence, as society keeps shifting, the company’s management must shift to keep the flow of fresh ideas coming.


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Markets across the board have gained back any losses from the beginning of the week, as fears around a crisis in China’s property market eased somewhat and as the Federal Reserve kept current monetary stimulus in place for just a little bit longer. The Dow is up over 550 points this morning while the TSX is up 74 points, oil and natural gas continue to move higher, West Texas Intermediate is now over $73 USD a barrel adding strength the Canadian dollar.
Canada’s retail sales fell 0.6% to $55.8 billion in July, the third decrease in four months. The decline was primarily driven by lower sales at food and beverage stores (-3.4%) and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-7.3%). In July, much of the country continued to implement reopening measures, which eased restrictions on both retailers and services. Sales decreased in 5 of 11 subsectors, representing 38.7% of retail trade. Core retail sales—which exclude gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers—decreased 1.3%.In volume terms, retail sales decreased 1.1% in July.
The retail sales seem to have minimum impact on the USDCAD and it would seem that market sentiment is the main driver this morning, the Fed announced yesterday no rate hike but it would bring up its bond tapering sooner. Also, mixed news out of China , one side saying that property developer Evergrande demise is overblown, while the other side has the belief that the Chinese government will only step in as a last resort stemming any ripple effect in financial network.
The Canadian dollar should remain strong to the USD the remainder of the day.


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Modi's "Make in India" is Making Strides
The Indian government frequently sends contradictory signals to foreign investors with its policy decisions, but its recent decision to open up a host of sectors to 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was a very positive sign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been vocal about his desire to see India attract cash from around the world and build up its manufacturing base, while also becoming a hub for the digital economy. Yet investors have seen his government struggle to pass legislation to allow for structural overhauls in labor and land acquisition, so the all-too-familiar red tape persists. Moreover, the popular central bank governor Raghuram Rajan, under whom an inflation targeting mechanism was created, seems to have been forced out, spooking analysts and investors alike.
However amid all this gloom, the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion announced on June 20 that all barriers to investment in “modern technology”, in defense, civil aviation, broadcasting, as well as major caps to investment in agricultural trade and pharmaceuticals will be lifted. With the majority of these sectors to allow automatic clearance of Foreign Direct Investment. This is the largest measure to ease FDI restrictions undertaken since Modi took office two years ago, although a cluster of easing measures took place in November. A specific highlight is on local sourcing requirements for single-brand retail, not surprisingly coming soon after Apple announced its formal entry into the Indian market.
What About US Companies?
For US companies, this is unlikely to have an immediate impact, but these are promising hints at what lies ahead. While India and the United States have moved toward a close bilateral defense relationship, the defense reform remains couched in the ambiguous term, “modern technology.” To date, there were exceptions made for foreign investment in “state-of-the-art” technology, a term whose vagueness engendered as much confidence as one can imagine. Not much is likely to change under the new wording, save for deals already in the works in back rooms in Delhi. Some analysts eye the easing of clearance in single-brand retail and agricultural product and service FDI as the most promising. Richard Rossow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says, “If a foreign company comes in and sets up a national grocery chain in India, it could be pretty significant in creating a huge number of low-skilled jobs.”
Modi is doing everything he can to make sure India stays on the path toward increased economic growth, founded on increased manufacturing and job growth. Aghast at his country’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index, he has named and shamed his states, who hold a great deal of control over business regulation, into taking action. This “competitive federalism” encourages a contagion effect among states toward greater ease of doing business.
While this latest measure will not have an immediate effect on the ground for US companies, measures such as this are important to show that the Modi government is serious about keeping India as an exciting destination for trade and investment. While there is a large constituency within India that is culturally opposed to foreign investment – and a discourse of economic self-sufficiency. Each move to open further in trade and investment shows that India is growing stronger at overcoming this discourse to the benefit of its markets.


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As it’s that time of the year already, besides checking the best deals and shopping for holidays, we wanted us all to remember how it started.
NBC News presents a captivating summary of the dynamic history of Cyber Monday, a digital shopping event that has transcended its initial role as Black Friday’s online counterpart. From its humble beginnings to becoming a pivotal event in the retail calendar, the article goes into detail about the intriguing evolution of Cyber Monday, showcasing how it has seamlessly integrated technology, transformed consumer habits, and boosted the way we approach post-Thanksgiving sales. Check out this informative article that takes the rise of Cyber Monday into the center of attention, offering a compelling glimpse into the past, present, and exciting future of this digital shopping phenomenon.
Don’t forget that Cyber Monday is happening on the 27th of November this year!
AI image generator that creates pictures up to 16x higher resolution
AI makes Black Friday smarter
AI art generation with Stable Diffusion
Artificial Intelligence Artwork - What is AI art?
AI Art Prompts with Adobe Firefly
Adobe’s Firefly generative AI tool is available!
Cinematic AI in the Venice Film Festival
Midjourney tricks for AI artists
AI helping journalists
Nolan's view on AI in filmmaking


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In a spirited debate worth billions of dollars to the entertainment biz, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed disinclined to scrap a 1998 law extending the life of copyrights by 20 years -- a…
Yahoo reported improved quarterly financial numbers, with net income for the third quarter hitting $28.9 million, compared to a net loss of $24.1 million last year. Revenues of $249 million were up…
A skeptical report from Merrill Lynch didn't stop AOL Time Warner stock from nudging up 7¢ Wednesday, to close at $10.74.
Listen.com has secured a major distribution channel for its music-subscription service Rhapsody, cutting a deal with high-speed Internet provider Verizon Online DSL.
A compromise on royalty rates forged between record labels and Webcasters has been written into legislation and was passed unanimously in the House of Representatives.
The European Union Commission will create a one-stop shop licensing system for TV and radio broadcasts of music on the Internet, as well as by traditional terrestrial or cable means.
The U.S. Supreme Court will wade into the battle between rights holders and Internet entrepreneurs when it hears oral arguments Wednesday about the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term…
The Justice Dept. has opened an investigation into allegations that a News Corp. subsidiary hacked into rival digital TV smart cards, then distributed the code information on a Web site frequented by…
U.S. Hispanic feevee Fox Sports en Espanol has formed an exclusive content, sales and marketing alliance with Internet portal Terra.com.
Rock group Bon Jovi will be stocked in stores today after all. A U.S. District Court judge in New York has denied a request from Netco DownloadCard for an injunction against the release of "Bounce,"…
Just for Variety - Army Archerd


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MFFASHION – November 2016
ELISABETTA FRANCHI GROWS AND BETS ON THE ATHLEIUSURE WEAR
The label with a revenue of 102 millions (+1,1%) reveals MOVES, its first collection dedicated to sportswear. Increasing the offer to six moments of sales. A revolution in the ELISABETTA FRANCHI’s Maison. The Bologna label is preparing for a double debut and the beginning of a new era. The company, which will close 2016 with a turnover of 102 millions euro (+1,1%) and an EBITDA of 21.3 millions (+17%), has enriched its offer with a dedicated Athleisure collection of casual and activewear, with technical garments and high- tech accessories, set to arrive in stores in May 2017 and, in parallel, launched its first Pre- Collection for FW 2017. “The sportswear is contaminating more and more dailywear and breaks into the everyday use occasions, becoming fashion,” explained to MFF Elisabetta Franchi, Owner, President and Designer of the company. “This capsule, named MOVES, born observing the world, both as a spectator and as protagonist”. 54 pieces, including 13 accessories: wristbands, headband, earphones and colored laces to customize the running or casual sneakers, to match with the Maison must-have such as bodysuit, t-shirts and oversized sweatshirts, but also leggings and stretch tops with details of fringes in laminated eco-down leather, gold trims, asymmetries and transparencies created with tulle and net. “MOVES is a complete offer and a new moment of sale,” affirmed the CEO Eugenio Manghi to MFF. “In addition to the opportunity to get in contact with new customers who appreciate this new project.” The capsule will be distributed worldwide through 67 Monobrand Boutiques and more than 1.100 Multibrand stores. ‘Live fast, live intense’ is the slogan and the leitmotiv for the collection. “Moves propose itself like a lifestyle” says the designer. The same concept leads the launch of the Pre-collection, that is geared to attract the attention of the big international department stores, through adding new sales moments, that from four in a year, now became six, subdivided in Pre, Main and Show, for 800 items. “The Pre-collection stems from the need to coherently identify selling moments, and give greater weight to the proposal, and, at the same time, to ensure to customers and distributors a delivery service adequate to all markets”, explains the CEO Manghi, that continues saying: “We think that the Pre-collection could represent around 35-40% of the business, but mostly, a part from the numbers, could be an important proposal to face markets and demanding realities in terms of service, allowing the brand to propose itself in a more persuasive and complete way, to the international distribution”. The collection’s themes will be re-proposed in accessories, handbags and shoes that represent 13.5% of the brand’s turnover. The Pre collection also includes the new label Pure, with essential garments that emphasize the combination of premium materials and fit..


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Atlantic City, N.J. – June 18, 2015 – Gasoline retailers and their marketer partners face major changes to payment technology and the burden of fraud liability with the rollout of Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) enabled credit cards. CITGO Petroleum Corporation is stepping up to support its retailers and marketers through this transition. Attendees at a recent Atlantic Region Energy Expo (AREE) in Atlantic City heard first-hand about a CITGO program that will share the upgrade costs and fraud liability during the transition.
The initiative, available to eligible CITGO retailers and marketers, underwrites a portion of the point of sale (POS) upgrades and provides incentives for those under the CITGO brand to convert to EMV-compatible technology. CITGO also has volunteered to temporarily shoulder the financial burden of the EMV Counterfeit Liability Shift for marketers and retailers as they work to upgrade their systems.
“CITGO retailers and marketers are under pressure to meet tight deadlines and navigate the financial and technological challenges these upgrades bring. As a partner to these businesses, our goal is to remove as many hurdles as possible and ensure their continued success,” Kara Gunderson, CITGO POS manager and chair of the Data Security Committee for Conexxus, told AREE guests.
Starting October 1, 2015, credit card issuers will begin to hold liable retailers whose credit card terminals are not EMV-compliant for EMV counterfeit transactions conducted inside their stores. This is a change from the current system, which holds creditors responsible for counterfeit liability related to card-present fraud. While many businesses are struggling to meet the deadline, CITGO remains committed to offering the industry’s best technology to ensure the security of consumers’ payment transactions. Achieving these new standards is costly to CITGO retailers, which is why CITGO is offering financial assistance to speed the upgrades to the company’s EPOS network and to encourage early adoption of the highest standards via the most advanced technologies. To give some idea of magnitude, according to Javelin Strategy and Research, U.S. retailers will spend an estimated $8 billion to convert POS devices, ATMs and credit/debit cards to the EMV standard.
CITGO is playing a major role in navigating the transition to EMV technology, with CITGO POS Manager Kara Gunderson serving as the founder and co-chair of the Petroleum Special Interest Group within the EMV Migration Forum. The transition to EMV technology within the petroleum industry is unique compared to other retail sectors because of fleet cards and robust loyalty programs. Also, paying for gasoline at the pump requires two payment card transaction transmissions for one transaction. Gunderson is working with the credit card industry, POS developers and payment system companies to ensure the oil and gas industry is fairly represented in the EMV transition.
“Customers are demanding more secure options for electronic payments,” added Jonathan Watson, CITGO manager of business services and payment card. “And we must rise to meet their expectations and ensure consumer safety. While delays in the process have put most retailers behind schedule, by working together with CITGO marketers and retailers we can move toward 100 percent compliance as quickly and smoothly as possible.”
Often known as chip-and-pin cards, EMV is a global standard for credit cards that uses computer chips and pin numbers to authenticate credit card transactions. The encryption on the computer chip changes for each individual purchase initiated using the card, thereby reducing the risk of data breaches and counterfeiting, and the pin number helps validate user identity. Use of these new cards requires retailers across all industries to upgrade their POS systems to accept EMV technology.
CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by CITGO Holding, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more information, visit www.CITGO.com.


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Eat Meati, the debut product line of Colorado-based Meati Foods, is launching its alternative proteins made from mushroom roots at three Sprouts Farmer Market locations in the Denver-Boulder area, with a larger rollout planned through 2022. The company is also expanding its partnership with natural fast-casual chain Birdcall.
“We’re eager to pilot on-shelf with Sprouts with an eye toward rapid expansion in the coming months”
Beginning today, Colorado shoppers can find the Meati Classic Cutlet, Crispy Cutlet and Classic Steak in Sprouts’ refrigerated and prepared foods sections. The products are currently available at select stores in Denver (#334), Boulder (#312) and Wheat Ridge (#326). As part of Meati’s mission toward accessibility, the initial launch will be followed by a national expansion to all US Sprouts locations by the end of 2022. The brand states it plans to achieve an nationwide, omnichannel footprint by late 2023.
Meati is also expanding its partnership with Birdcall, a regional fast-casual chain with nine locations in Colorado and Arizona. Meati has been named Bircall’s official alt-protein of choice and can be ordered as a protein substitute in any Birdcall sandwich or salad.
To scale production, Meati intends to move from the current Pilot Ranch to its so-called Mega Ranch this fall, which has the capacity to produce more than 45M pounds of product annually. Founded in 2017, Meati produces whole-food cutlets and steak made from mycelium, the fibrous root structure of mushrooms. Since launching DTC in March 2022, the company has reported months of record sellouts for its steak and chicken products.
In 2021, the company raised $50M in Series B to construct an 80,000 sq. ft. plant capable of replacing 4,500 cattle per day with fungi-based meat, and announced its goals to achieve $1B in sales by 2025. The brand’s luminous supporters include David Chang, Tom Colicchio, John Foraker and Sam Kass.
“We’re thrilled to have the support of such well-recognized, respected and purpose-driven partners like Sprouts Farmers Market and Birdcall as we bring our category-first whole-food cutlets and steaks to shelves and plates in our home state of Colorado,” said Scott Tassani, President of Meati Foods. “Given the consistent record-breaking sellouts of our Meati products online, we’re eager to pilot on-shelf with Sprouts with an eye toward rapid expansion in the coming months.”


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Sotheby’s is planning to auction the Blue Moon, a 12.03 carat internally flawless vivid blue diamond valued at £35 million or $55 million.
According to sources, if the Blue Moon achieves this bid, it will set a record of being the most valuable diamond ever sold at an auction. Currently, this title is held by the Graff Pink, a fancy intense pink 24.78 carat diamond that sold for $46.1 million in Nov 2010.
The Blue Moon, a brilliant-cut cushion-shaped diamond, is among the few blue diamonds which possess the fancy vivid grade — the highest grade for a colored diamond.
The Blue Moon was sold for $25.6 million to Cora International, who spent at least six months cutting and polishing it.
The GIA monograph said the diamond’s color has “never before been seen within such a large diamond or any gemstone.”
David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s international jewelry division, said the Blue Moon diamond is a sensational stone of perfect color and purity.
“Blue, for me, is the most mysterious and magical of all the colors of the diamond, and the Blue Moon will now take its place among the most famous gems in the world.”
Stay tuned for more updates on the Blue Moon and its journey to the worthy owner!
Sources: JCKOnline, Western Daily Press


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Meta is the artist who was formerly known by Facebook. Android Central was able to hear a lot from the company about Thursday's promising future for the new Metaverse. One area was not mentioned: security and privacy of users. This is a bad thing, and it's especially problematic when a company attempts to rebrand itself or assure customers how it intends to improve its services. If the company is Facebook, this problem doubles. Facebook was once the darling tech world. But it has since fallen into a new role that is not trusted by anyone. It's all the company's fault. Most people who visit Android Central and other tech websites will care about this. It is important that we care about the privacy practices of the companies who make our connected devices and the software that runs them. Many companies don't care about privacy, especially when new ideas are developed into products and services. VPN Deals: Monthly plans starting at $16 per month, lifetime licenses for $16 and more Virtual assistants are an excellent example. It was a long time ago that no one could have predicted how useful or intrusive software such as Alexa and Google Assistant would become. Even Apple, in 2021 is collecting more user data via Siri than Google Assistant. Apple prides itself on the privacy of its services and how little it collects. I am a little concerned about how the Metaverse will use, collect, protect, or use all of our data. It's still Facebook
Source: Alex Dobie / Android Central
Although the company now has a brand new name, the players are still the same. It's hard to believe that Facebook has such a track record. Although it's fun and exciting to hate Facebook, the company has earned our distrust. It's fun and exciting to hate Facebook. You can see it every time it appears in the news cycle. Social media is full of people ranting about how they will delete their Facebook accounts and quit. Although I am not the one telling you to stop using Facebook, I can tell you that the company has earned every bit the distrust it has sown. Facebook has proven it can do many things, including allowing third-parties to access your data, encouraging political division, and ignoring harmful content for children and teens. Facebook is a hate site for techies. Facebook is hated by the political left. The political right loathes Facebook. The U.S. Congress hates Facebook, despite it being one of America's largest companies and employing tens of thousand of people. Facebook is hated by everyone because they don't trust it. The majority of Facebook users are not affected by this problem, but it is a serious problem. The Metaverse is a disaster zone.
Source: Nick Sutrich / Android Central


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Amazon missed target in France in 2020
While Amazon has reached many successes throughout Europe, the company was unable to reach its target in France last year. Covid-19 measures and local regulations caused setbacks for the company on several levels.
Last year, the well known marketplace Amazon missed an internal target for package shipments in the second-biggest economy within the euro zone, France. Local Amazon France Logistique shipped 258 million packages, which is up from 229 million in 2019, but below a target of 416 million.
Challenges in France
Amazon has faced multiple challenges in France since it entered the country over twenty years ago. In April last year, the French government suspended Amazon’s operations in France for five weeks after a local court ruled that it had failed to protect workers from the coronavirus.
Amazon’s operations in France were suspended for five weeks.
In December, French data protection agency CNIL fined Amazon for 35 million euros for placing advertising cookies with visitors to its French website without their consent. And two weeks ago, French lawmakers adopted a bill that will set a minimum price for book delivery to protect traditional booksellers. Recently, the company has been shipping books for just 1 cent.
French shoppers reluctant to buy on Amazon
But these restrictions are not the only setback that Amazon encountered. French shoppers are reluctant to buy on Amazon, which has left room for local players such as Cdiscount and Fnac Darty. Though the American marketplace is the biggest ecommerce player in France, its share in the local market fell to 19 percent last year from 22 percent in 2019.
Amazon’s share in the French market fell to 19 percent.
And while ecommerce sales in France grew with 24 percent, Amazon has been unable to keep up. The company’s sales grew with only 7 percent to 8.3 billion euros.
Plans to bounce back this year
According to Amazon, the ecommerce giant wants to bounce back this year. It has now set a target of 451 shipped packages from its French fulfilment centers. In order to do so, the company is investing heavily into the country. Amazon aims to open a major fulfilment center every year, adding to its eight giant warehouses in the country. Two months ago, its latest warehouse of 185.000 square-meters was opened in Augny. The company will also open approximately 12 smaller delivery hubs every year.
Additionally, the company wants to improve its image in France. One goal is boosting the number of Prime subscribers. Amazon is investing hundreds of millions of euros in French soccer broadcasting rights. Since August, French viewers can order Ligue 1 soccer for an extra fee of 12,99 euros per month on Prime Video.


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The rent hike in Nyeri County has driven several businesses out of town. Most Investors have refused to start-up businesses in the town, noting that the rent charges are too high.
Ibrahim Ndegwa, the Kenya National Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) Nyeri chairperson, confirmed that the rent charges discourage investors from doing business in the County.
Several business owners in Nyeri have closed shop, and others have opted out of business completely.
For the longest time, Nyeri has been known for its convenience in accessing various administrative services. The county has a lot of untapped opportunities for business people.
Mr. Ndegwa faulted the business owners for driving away business people with the high rent charges.
“Premises owners in town have been charging a top dollar to rent out space. This move made those who have already rented spaces give up and also away potential tenants,” Mr. Ndegwa said.
Several prime commercial buildings in Nyeri town are either empty since the occupants closed down or remain vacant even more than a year after they were put up.
Mr. Ndegwa also said that average businesses could not afford the rent, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Landlords have disputed claims that they are responsible for driving business out of town.


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Jada Haney of North Liberty, Iowa, and her friend, Karen Sando of Spencer, is raising money to buy lumber to rebuild the Montgomery County home they lost in a fire two years ago. It wasn’t their house, but Haney’s family was home at the time. Haney lost her husband and 17-year-old daughter in the fire.
She filed a claim with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an action that led them to a local building supply company. But it was a long wait and Haney and Sando finally had to go to FEMA for help. When the agency’s contractor showed up, he said the company had taken delivery of lumber months ago, but hadn’t delivered it.
“We worked really hard and waited a long time, and FEMA just did not give us any information or anything. We were totally freaking out and thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. The house is totally destroyed. We may have to start over in a different state or another state. Where will we get start?’ ” said Haney.
Haney decided to start an Etsy shop, “Solid Solid Solid Whole Humanity,” to sell pine plywood sheets.
Here’s an AP story from the initial announcement:


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Belfast rockers Indigo Fury release new single
Belfast rockers Indigo Fury will release their new single, 'RadioSong' next week.
The single precedes the release of the band's forthcoming debut album, 'Drive' in October 2011.
The band, who have won numerous awards including the prestigious Hotpress band of the year, will launch 'RadioSong' on Friday 23 September at The Pavilion Bar, Belfast with Indigo Fury headlining the SO:NI showcase event.
It will also be offered through iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and the usual web-based outlets.